Conventionally, in a vehicle, an automobile, in particular, the apparatus for mounting the child safety seat has been used in order to mount the child safety seat on the seat for the vehicle. Japanese Patent No. 3462160 and Japanese Patent No. 3690228 each disclose an example of such the apparatus for mounting the child safety seat.
In the apparatus for mounting the child safety seat disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3462160, a lower bar extending in the widthwise direction of the seat for the vehicle over the entirety of its width is fixed on the seat for the vehicle. A pair of anchor members are fixed on the lower bar, the pair of anchor members are disposed to be spaced apart from each other in the widthwise direction of the seat for the vehicle, in accordance with the width of the seat, and each anchor member includes a pair of leg portions and a locking portion which connects the pair of leg portions and is detachably connected on a fixing hook mounted on the child safety seat. Both ends and an intermediate portion of the lower bar are fixed on a floor panel via a supporting bracket. The supporting bracket at the intermediate portion, in particular, is fixed on the floor panel by utilizing a bracket for a seat frame for the vehicle.
According to such a structure, since not only the ends, but also the intermediate portion of the lower bar on which the pair of anchor members fixing the child safety seat is mounted is supported on the floor panel via the corresponding supporting brackets, even if a light and cheap lower bar is used, the lower bar does not largely deform due to a load from the child safety seat upon a front collision of the vehicle, so that the supporting rigidity for the child safety seat can be secured, and there is no risk of the lower bar being deformed in a case where luggage is loaded on the rear portion of the vehicle is caused to shift forwardly due to the sudden brake of the vehicle, etc. to collide with the lower bar.
In the apparatus for mounting the child safety seat disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3690228, the lower bar extending in the widthwise direction of the seat for the vehicle over the entirety of its width is fixed on the seat for the vehicle. The pair of anchor members are fixed on the lower bar, each of the pair of anchor members are disposed to be spaced apart from each other in the widthwise direction of the seat for the vehicle, in accordance with the width of the seat, and each anchor member includes a pair of leg portions and the locking portion which connects the pair of leg portions and is detachably connected on a fixing hook mounted on the child safety seat.
In the one anchor member of the pair of anchor members, the left or right leg portion is fixed on the lower bar so as to be partially wound around the lower bar from above or below, while the left or right leg portion is fixed on the lower bar so as to be partially wound around the lower bar from below or above, while on the other hand, in the other anchor member of the pair of anchor members, the left or right leg portion is fixed on the lower bar so as to be partially wound around the lower bar from above or below, while the left or right leg portion is fixed on the lower bar so as to be partially wound around the lower bar from below or above.
According to such a structure, as compared with a structure in which a pair of leg portions in each of the pair of anchor members are fixed on the lower bar so as to be partially wound around the lower bar from above or below, a vertical movement of the fixing hook relative to the lower bar can be reliably restricted, so that the child safety seat can be effectively and reliably prevented from largely declining or overturning.
However, these apparatuses for mounting the child safety seat raise following technical problems.
Firstly, since a case in which the child safety seats are simultaneously or individually mounted on a plurality of seat portions adjacent to each other is not assumed, it is technically difficult to mount the child safety seat simultaneously or individually on the plurality of seat portions adjacent to each other under such an above configuration in which the pair of anchor members are mounted on the lower bar. In addition, if the pair of anchor members are welded on the lower bar in each of the plurality of seat portions, the lower bar can deflect due to the weld heat to make the mounting of the child safety seat on the seat in a precise manner difficult, or, in a small vehicle with a narrow width including a plurality of seat portions, it is technically difficult to mount the child safety seats simultaneously on the plurality of seat portions.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, in Japanese Patent No. 3462160, in a case where the pair of anchor members are welded on the lower bar spaced apart from each other in the widthwise direction of the vehicle in accordance with the width of the seat portion, in each of the plurality of seat portions adjacent to each other, since the pair of leg portions of each pair of anchor members are welded on the same vertical side of the lower bar (lower side in FIG. 8) under the condition that the anchor members are welded on the lower bar by spot welding, in particular, each anchor member can separate from the lower bar due to a narrow welding area upon an exertion of a vertical load on the vehicle. In addition, it is technically difficult to dispose the anchor member at the side of the other seat portion in the one of the seat portions and the anchor member at the side of the one seat portion in the other of the seat portions, close to each other.
While, on the other hand, in Japanese Patent No. 3690228, although the pair of leg portions in each anchor member are welded on the lower bar so as to be partially wound around the lower bar with the one leg portion at the one vertical side and the other leg portion at the other vertical side, it neither suggests nor discloses that the anchor members at the side of the other seat portion in the one of the seat portions and the anchor members at the side of the one seat portion in the other of the seat portions are disposed more closely adjacent to each other.
Secondly, in the seat for the vehicle with the plurality of seat portions adjacent to each other, in a case where a space in the widthwise direction for two seat portions are provided, for instance, it is technically difficult to mount three safety seats for the child on such a space. More specifically, since the width of the child safety seat is narrower than that of the seat portion, the pair of anchor members have been conventionally welded on the lower bar in each of the plurality of seat portions, so that there is a restriction for positioning the anchor members in the widthwise direction of the seat for the vehicle, in a case where a plurality of pairs of anchor members are to be mounted.